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+---- Thread: Building a shield (/showthread.php?tid=12285)
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Building a shield - Scutum - 04-07-2008
Hello,my name is Stefan,from Bulgaria and i am new here.
I want to built a roman shield (scutum).I read a lot of posts and now i know what tools and materials i need but many things are still mystery.Can you please explain the whole think step by step.
"First you must built your press.It must be X cm long and Y cm wide.With radius R cm.It must be made from . . . . . . .
Second . . . . . .
(thinks that you were doing while you were building your shield) "-something like this.I think that this will be very useful for all newcomers.
Sorry for the spelling :?
Re: Building a shield - Marcus Mummius - 04-07-2008
Salve,
Please put your real name in your signature. That's a forum rule.
Have you looked at the scutum press page of the Legio XX website?
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scupress.html
Vale,
Re: Building a shield - Scutum - 04-07-2008
Ok I'will put my real name and yes looked it but i don't know how long must be the press.I know that original roman shield were 120 cm long and 80 cm wide but the acient people were shorter than us right?And i also want to know how to bend the flat wood.Only put it into the press and wait or have to do something else????
Re: Building a shield - garrelt - 04-07-2008
Start a search in this part of the forum
http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewforum.php?f=20
about shield construction and you will get enough matches.
enjoy
Re: Building a shield - jvrjenivs - 04-07-2008
1) 120 x 80 cm seems like a republican scutum to me. Imperial scuta are about 100 x 80 cm (I use 104 x 84). The radius I use is 40 cm, but that's not based on any finds, just to fit the umbo I had.
2) When you put the layers in the press, you've to glue them together, as they will become more or less flat again, otherwise, when you take them out of the press.
I would advice to read some more. It's all in the LegioXX website and on a couple of topics on RAT already. (search for scutum press, etc). And as always there are different ways to do it.
Re: Building a shield - Scutum - 04-08-2008
Yes I saw that all info is in legio XX website.But i have a question.When you built the shield and then you must cover it with leather or linen.The question is i have to cover the shield with leather and then linen or choose one of them and cover the shield with it
Re: Building a shield - garrelt - 04-08-2008
Stefan
Cover the shield board with linen and or Rawhide (parchement) and use the tanned leather for a removable shield transport cover.
In the combination linen and rawhide, glue the linen first.
Re: Building a shield - jvrjenivs - 04-08-2008
Quote:Yes I saw that all info is in legio XX website.But i have a question.When you built the shield and then you must cover it with leather or linen.The question is i have to cover the shield with leather and then linen or choose one of them and cover the shield with it
Don't cover your shield with leather. Always use rawhide!
Okay, the best way is to cover it with linen on both sides and a second layer of rawhide over the front, but this would be expensive, so some of use only use linen on both sides.
Re: Building a shield - Scutum - 04-13-2008
Thanks
plywood! - Max_ - 05-06-2008
Why don't you get a plywood sheet, cut it with a sabre saw and paint it?
You might not be bale to bend it, but you could make an auxullary shield or something!
Re: Building a shield - Tarbicus - 05-06-2008
Quote:I know that original roman shield were 120 cm long and 80 cm wide but the acient people were shorter than us right?Yes they were, and well brought up. There definitely is a case for a lot of our kit being too small proportionally on our own bodies IMHO, including helmets (there is a difference in head sizes on races of a smaller stature before folks start shouting otherwise).
However, it's unlikely shields were of strict uniform size across the entire Empire or Republic anyway.
shield-building - Paullus Scipio - 05-06-2008
Tarbicus /Jim wrote:-
Quote:Scutum wrote:......but not greatly different. Average male height in Roman Europe was about 5ft7ins (1.74 m), apparently. It is later, particularly the 18-19th centuries that our ancestors were significantly shorter......
I know that original roman shield were 120 cm long and 80 cm wide but the acient people were shorter than us right?
Yes they were, and well brought up. There definitely is a case for a lot of our kit being too small proportionally on our own bodies IMHO, including helmets (there is a difference in head sizes on races of a smaller stature before folks start shouting otherwise).
!
Re: Building a shield - Tarbicus - 05-06-2008
Sorry, but that's enough to create a 5% difference, and if you look at extant examples in museums of what was being carried and worn it's clear that they were really small blokes. 5' 7" is the tall version of Roman man, and many male skeletons found in cemeteries are closer to 5' 5.5" (in Italy itself IIRC). When a shield at rest is just above your belly button, it was at nipple height for real 2000 years ago. This has a major impact on anecdotal evidence from modern re-enactors making claims that the scutum, helmet, armour, gladius, etc, could "do this" and "do that". The data is flawed.
You only have to look at the helmet found with the internal felt and fur intact. Try stuffing that into an accurately sized repro of the Gallic G and fit it on a modern western noggin.
Re: Building a shield - Gaius Julius Caesar - 05-07-2008
Hmmmm, thats an idea......NOT :lol: Just enough room with the linen one I have! and soaking wet it was after Rome!
Shield building and sizes - Paullus Scipio - 05-07-2008
Quote:You only have to look at the helmet found with the internal felt and fur intact....which one is that, Jim? One of those Russell-Robinson referred to, though it sounds like a newer find? Tell more please !